Why Have You Done This

up the paper and prop their feet up, they hear squeaking sound coming from up stairs, so they put down the paper go up stairs and open the door and there they find little Johnny jumping up and down. He stops when they come in, and they ask him, "didn’t I tell you not to jump up and down," "Yes" Johnny replies, And didn’t I tell you that If you jumped up and down on your bed again that you would get a spanking" "A huh" says Johnny. "Then why in the world are you jumping on your bed?" "I don’t know."

That’s their answer, that’s the most popular answer that Kids give for all the crazy things that they do, that they know that they are not supposed to do, it can drive a parent crazy because it doesn’t make sense, are they just trying to make us mad, do they like pain or are they just plain stupid, Bill Cosby’s theory is that they have brain damage - he may be right. Some things our children do will forever remain a mystery.

As I said the world is full of many Mysteries, countless things that just don’t make sense, some mysteries we read about, some we watch and others we live with on a daily basis. But all the great mysteries of the world, shrivel in comparison to the two Mysteries that we will discuss today.

If we really stop, and honestly think about them, we will have to admit that they really don’t make any sense, Why would man continually reject a loving God and Why would God love a CONTINUOUSLY rejecting and rebellious man?


I. THE MYSTERY OF MAN’S REJECTION OF GOD

THE ISRAELITES REJECTION [JUDGES 2:1-5; 6:7-10]

The rejection of God by the Nation of Israel doesn’t make any sense.

1. After all, look at all that God had done for them

In the 2 passages that we read, God recounts for them exactly what he had done for them.

He says, I brought you out of Egypt, I delivered you from slavery, I snatched you from the powerful hands of the Egyptians. Who you were powerless to free yourselves from.

They were slaves in Egypt, lowly servants forced at the end of a task masters whip to build cities for the Pharaoh. The scripture says of the Egyptians in Exodus chapter one, that they worked them ruthlessly, that they made their lives bitter with hard labor in brick and mortar and with all kinds of work in the fields; in all their hard labor the Egyptians used them Ruthlessly.

BUT, God delivered them from Egypt performing 10 powerful miracles. And He also burst open the Red Sea, saving Israel and destroying Egypt.

Not only did God deliver them from Egypt but he provided for them in the wilderness for 40 years, everyday manna came down from heaven, he provided them water and meat and in all those years their sandals and clothes did not wear out and their feet never got sore.

God delivered them, God provide for them, God protected them from their enemies, leading them in battle. And God kept the promises that he had made to Abraham over 700 years earlier, as He gave them the promise land.

And the Israelites settled in a land flowing with milk and honey, and they lived in houses that they did not build, they drank from wells that they did not dig and ate from vine yards and olive groves, that they did not plant.

And The one true God, the Creator of the universe, made a covenant with them that they were His people and them that they were to Worship the Lord God and Him only.

2. Yet, despite